


don't wanna let the pieces fall out of place

by GracefulPanda12



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dead Ben Parker, Dead May Parker - Freeform, Female Peter Parker, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Mentioned Ben Parker, Mentioned May Parker (Spider-Man), Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Oops, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter is Penny because Penny is a girl, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Underage Drinking, forgot to put that in lol, spoilers in tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26142259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GracefulPanda12/pseuds/GracefulPanda12
Summary: Penny sighed on the other end of the line, before muttering out, “I need you to pick me up”He stood up, stretching. “Sure. Where are you?” He reached over to the leather jacket that was resting on the back of his chair. Her next words, however, made him pause.She hesitated a moment, before apparently stealing herself.“I’m at the police station.”***or, Tony and Penny have a fight.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 12
Kudos: 209
Collections: The Best Irondad/Spiderson Fics, The Best Peter Parker Whump Fics





	don't wanna let the pieces fall out of place

Tony rocked back and forth on his chair, and sighed, flicking through the paperwork Pepper had assigned him. All of a sudden, the phone in his pocket started vibrating. He smiled slightly, seeing that it was Penny before swiping across the screen to answer it. 

“Hey kiddo, what’s up?”

Penny sighed on the other end of the line, before muttering out, “I need you to pick me up”

He stood up, stretching. “Sure. Where are you?” He reached over to the leather jacket that was resting on the back of his chair. Her next words, however, made him pause.

She hesitated a moment, before apparently stealing herself. 

“I’m at the police station.” 

* * *

Penny tapped her fingers against the desk of Detective Miller, nervously waiting for Tony to arrive. She looked around the precinct. It was small and cramped. The walls were painted a horrible shade of Foille Green and the desks seemed to be quite cramped.

Suddenly Penny spotted her mentor/legal guardian walking through the doors of the precinct, flashing his patented Tony Stark Smile at anyone that tried to stop him. He came to a stop next to her, and rested a hand on the chair behind her. 

“What’s going on here?” 

As Detective Miller turned to look towards Tony, and started listing off the usual police jargon, Penny watched his expression. It was getting steadily angrier. 

‘ _ It’s strange _ ’ Penny thought, distractedly, ‘ _ seeing that look on his face _ ’.

* * *

When all the necessary forms had been signed, Penny had been let off with a warning. Having one of the world's biggest celebrities with her, probably helped her case. 

Tony hadn’t said a word to her the entire car ride home, just followed her into the penthouse. Penny sat on the kitchen counter, waiting. Tony just stared at her. 

“Well?” He started, and Penny winced at his tone. “What the  _ hell _ were you thinking?"

Penny looked down, the knot in her stomach tightening. “I don’t- I don’t know, I just-”

“You just got  _ arrested  _ Penny! You’re going to have to do a little better than ‘ _ I don’t know _ ’!”

“I just-I wanted to try it, okay? I wanted to act like a regular teenager for once!” And now Penny was getting fired up as well, and she  _ knew  _ she was in the wrong, but for once she just didn’t care. All the emotions that had been building up these past couple days, just burst out of her. “I just- I wanted,  _ for once _ , to not have to worry about everything! And then I got invited to the stupid party, and I thought, ‘ _ Why the fuck not _ ’, because everyone else gets to relax, and have fun, and be a regular teenager so why can’t I? It’s not like the alcohol had any affect anyway.” The final sentence was muttered bitterly as she finally looked up, towards Tony.

He had his hands resting as fists on the table and wasn’t looking at her. He was biting his lips, in what Penny figured was a way to stop him from saying something he would come to regret. Irrationally, Penny was annoyed by this. She wanted him to not hold back, wanted him to yell at her, just so she could yell right back. But instead, all he said was, “Go to your room.”

And Penny did.

* * *

It was eight o'clock the next morning that Tony knocked on her bedroom door. When no reply came, he knocked again. “C’mon Pen, please open the door? I just wanna talk.” After knocking for a third, and final time, still with no answer, he sighed quietly and rested his head against the door. In the end, he left for work.

Meanwhile Penny was still in bed, with tears running down her face. Not because of the argument with Tony, no. Because of the date circled in red on her calendar. 

About an hour after Tony left, Penny got up, got dressed and left the huge New York penthouse.

* * *

Tony sighed as he flicked through more and more paperwork. It seemed like the pile was never ending.

“Hey man” 

Tony looked up at Rhodey and nodded his head at him in greeting, “Hey.”

“Where’s Penny? She’s usually around here on weekends.”   
  
Tony felt a spark of unreasonable irritation. “Yeah well, she’s not here today.” He muttered, annoyed.

Rhodey raised his eyebrows, but otherwise didn’t react.

He lasted all of ten seconds before sighing. “Sorry Rhodey. Me and Penny had a fight last night. Neither of us handled it well.”

He nodded in understanding, “Don’t sweat it man. Does this have anything to do with why you ran out of here yesterday?”

Tony chuckled humorlessly before nodding, and resting his head on his hands. “Everything to do with that actually. She got caught drinking at a party the local police busted.”

“Penny did? That doesn’t sound like her.”

“Believe me, I know.” Tony ran a hand down his face and sighed, before turning on his computer. His eyes locked on the date and he froze. July twenty-fourth. As quick as a flash, Tony was out of his seat and running to his car, leaving Rhodey staring after him with an inquisitive look on his face.

Penny wouldn’t be at home. He knew that. So he turned left instead of right, away from their penthouse, and towards the cemetery.

* * *

  
  


‘ _ In Loving Memory of May and Benjamin ‘Ben’ Parker.  _

_ April fourteenth, 1975 - July twenty-fourth, 2017  _ **_/_ ** _ January twenty-fifth, 1973 - July twenty-fourth, 2017.’ _

Penny felt her vision blur with unshed tears as she read, and re-read the gravestone over and over again. Over the course of the past hour that she’d been there, she had dropped to her knees. She distantly realised she didn’t know when this had happened. 

All at once, she noticed the sound of a second heartbeat and a pair of feet walking towards her. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was Tony. He stopped just short of her, not knowing if she was still mad at him. Penny spoke first.

“I can’t remember Tony.” Her voice was no more than a broken whisper.

Tony took the last step, dropping down next to her. “Can’t remember what sweetheart?” 

Penny felt the first tears drip from her eyes as she stared at the headstone. “I-I can’t remember what her voice sounded like, or-or the exact colour of his eyes or what their hugs felt like, or-” She broke off with a sob, tears streaming down her face with abandon. Tony wrapped his arms around her and she fell into them, clutching at him as sobs wracked her body. “I can’t, I-I can’t, I-”

Tony pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, whispering meaningless reassurances in her ears, and rocking her back and forth. 

A few minutes later, she had calmed down a little, head still tucked into his chest and tears still dripping down her face. He continued rocking her slightly as she murmured “I wanted to forget. That’s why I went to the party. I wanted to, to forget all of  _ this _ ” She waved a hand in the general direction of the gravestone and sniffles, “I wanted to forget that I couldn’t remember.” 

“And?” Tony asked, resting his cheek on her hair, “Did it work?”

“No” She whispered brokenly, and Tony squeezed her ever so slightly tighter, pressing another kiss to her hair. 

They sat there, for as long as Penny needed.

**Author's Note:**

> i cried when writing this ngl.
> 
> i only spent about 10 minutes reading over this so lemme know if there are mistakes lol
> 
> kudos and comments to make the cookie monster happy.
> 
> [ Talk to me on tumblr! < /a >](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/gracefulpanda12)


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